forged in the first age of global commerce, it received the bounty of the british empire. but containerized shipping technology has drastically reduced the labor force, permanently changing the urban and economic geography here. can liverpool make the transition from an industrial-revolution seaport to a center of the information revolution and the service economy? ( kids actively conversing ) merseyside in the beginning of the 21st century. this is the small city of bootle, just north of liverpool. neighborhoods like this have fallen on hard times. what never changes is the love of soccer. ( crowd cheering ) in a pub around the corner, the grownups root for the liverpool football club. it's a passion. ( yelling, cheering ) the old men here once worked the docks downtown. for the young men, that's rarely an option now. ( oohing ) this is a tale of two nearby cities, united perhaps only by their support of liverpool soccer. one is the story of gritty neighborhoods that once housed the dock workers of a major european seaport. the other is the reformed, revitalized downtown,